Which to use
“censor” and “cursor” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #18,034
- “censor” frequency rank
- #25,726
- “cursor” frequency rank
- 43760
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | censor | cursor |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | One of the two magistrates who originally administered the census of citizens, and by Classical times (between the 8th century B.C.E. and the 6th century C.E.) was a high judge of public behaviour and morality. | A part of any of several scientific or measuring instruments that moves back and forth to indicate a position. |
Where the eye mixes censor and cursor
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: censor vs cursor
A purely visual mix-up. censor (/ˈsɛnsə/) and cursor (/ˈkɜːsə/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 43760, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
censor is recorded at frequency rank #18,034, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈsɛnsə/. cursor is at rank #25,726, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈkɜːsə/.
Glosses for this pair are partially populated in our dataset, but the full side-by-side definitions above should still guide you to the right choice.
With a confusion score of 43760, this pair ranks #236,956 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of censor vs cursor
Shared letters: cors. Private to "censor": en. Private to "cursor": u.
"censor" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC · "cursor" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "censor" and "cursor" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "censor" or "cursor"?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "censor" and "cursor" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "censor" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "cursor" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #236,956 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "censor" and "cursor" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Corso vs cursor". Nearby pair
- Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes
Confusion rank #236,956 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.